Larry Winget (“The Pitbull of Personal Development”) told me a story years ago that stuck with me:
In 2013, he wrote a book called “Grow a Pair”, which had a cover image of him holding two big watermelons.
As the book was nearing completion, the publisher got cold feet about the hard-hitting title and image. They worried it could make it difficult to get the book onto store shelves, and started nagging him to change it to a less-offensive one.
Larry thought about it, and told them “no”.
He said that if he backed down he would be demonstrating a lack of “watermelons”, and he threatened to take the book to another publisher if they didn’t back off with their demand.
The publisher did back off, Larry’s book got into the bookstores with the original title, and it was a hit.
The big lesson from this story is to be willing to put yourself out there unapologetically and to speak your mind without the fear of offending.
It’s impossible to avoid offending everyone, and with book titles like “Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get a Life”, “You’re Broke Because You Want To Be”, and “The Idiot Factor”, Larry’s clearly not afraid to ruffle some feathers!
As you build your business you’ll be pressured to water-down your message, but at the end of the day it’s your business and you have the final say.
If you feel good about your offer, and it helps coaches, there are a few days left to become a joint venture partner with me at the special summer promotion rate.
The deadline is this Tuesday (September 1st) – here’s the link: